An award set up in honour of BBC presenter Komla Dumor who passed away in January 2014 aims to celebrate African journalism and finding exceptional talent. The maiden award to continue the legacy of Dumor who died suddenly at 41 is called BC World News Komla Dumor Award. Yesterday, it was awarded to Kenya Television Network KTN News Anchor Nancy Kacungira.

Nancy is an anchor of prime time news on KTN and also produces and presents a weekly segment telling the inspirational stories of people working to better their local communities. She joined KTN in 2013 and is also KTN’s Social Media Editor.

Her passion for telling Africa’s diverse stories mirrors Komla’s own devotion to Africa and as part of his legacy, Nancy will be able to share her fervor with the BBC’s global audience.

There are two runners up for the award: Leila Dee Dougan from South Africa and Paa Kwesi Asare from Ghana from an initial list of 200 contenders. The judging panel included BBC Global News Editor Vera Kwakofi, BBC Foreign Editor, Andrew Roy and the Editor for the Mail and Guardian in Africa, Charles Onyango-Obbo.

Nancy will join the BBC News teams in London for a three month placement starting in September. She will gain skills and experience working with teams across BBC News on TV, radio and online reaching the BBC’s audiences of 308 million across the world.